Saturday, 27 February 2010

An Open Letter to Mr. Pranab Mukherjee

Dear Sir ,

I am Ram Prakash Gupta , representative of common man (Lower and Lower Middle class ) of India. As per the income tax statistics report of 2006 , I am representing 273.3 lakh people (27.33 Millions) of India who have incomce less than INR 2 Lakhs per annum.

Dear Pranab Sir first of all I want to ask why do you think that we lower-middle class(up to INR 3 Lakhs income group) don't need any tax relief ? Please sir spend 5 minutes to go through the following points to ponder on . My English is not good as I studied in Kannada medium school but yes You can understand with little effort.

Do you think that various tax reliefs you gave to higher income group and corporates will reduce the prices of Milk , Daal , Chawal ,Wheat , Fruits , Vegetables , School fees , Bus fairs , House rents , Electricity bill , Water bill , Petrol Rates Yes , I buy Petrol for my Scooty/Luna/Auto/Scooter bought on EMI at same rate at which all i10 ,i20 ,Honda Civic ,Honda City ,Alto , BMW ,Mercedes ,Scorpio owner buys petrol.

I promise if you give us small tax relief I will use it wisely . I don't need tax relief of INR 20000 or INR 50000 , Mere 10000 is enough for me I can improve many things in my life with that.

My child is studying in Kannad /Hindi medium school . If you give some tax relief than I can some how manage to send him in next door public school. He is not studying in DPS, Amity International schools , Ryan , New Horizon.

I will not spend that amount in monthly pizza party ,boozing , new Jewelery , touch phone , iPod , LCD TV, Laptop , a trip to ooty , shimla . I will not buy a new Pulsar DTS 220 i to impress girls .

Hari Ram ji never give his daughter 's B'day party in TJIF ,Bombay post , Leela etc . But yes seldom he also wants to celebrate his daughter B'day in a decent restaurant with his relatives , only once in 3 years. He can arrange such party if you give little tax relief.

I know sir that self contentedness is expected from lower class and lower middle class , we are well known for that , but sometimes I think we too have some basic needs and we meet better with more money. Sir we just need little help from you.

Sir do you know I don't have shares, PPF , FDs or LICs because other expenditure on my parents health (Yes we lower-middle class stay with them and try our best to take care of parents unlike out higher income group individuals ) . If you give the tax benefit I will buy one term policy for me , Who knows which bomb blast kill me while Manmohan singh ji talking to Pakistan.

I also wanted to invest some money for my retirement just 10000 per year not more sir , may be it will help me in my old age to live grace fully . You know sir we don't get pension , whatever EPF I'll get that will be used in my daughters marriage and son's higher education.

Sir please , give us little happiness , I know sir my savings and expenditure will not help much to boost India's GDP because I can't buy Bikes , Mobile ,TV , 2 BHK flats . Can't affort to throw party in restaurants ,bowling , boozing every weekend.But Still I believe 8% GDP growth is irrelevant if 5-6 crores people are suffering . I think 7.5% is not bad with little happiness of 5-6 crore peoples. Isn't it ??

My call center friend Rahul was happy that he can buy new Electric guitar with TAX saivings , His girlfriends is planning to buy iPhone with TAX Saving . Another friend is planning to buy new Laptop with 35ooo saving on TAXes.

When all these people spend their TAX savings that will go back to Economy and government will get increased collection of service tax,sales tax etc. Government will get back his money in other way I am sure for that . This will increase GDP , in turn increase FDI ,FII investment, right?? . Liquidity will also increase .Very good sir!!

But sir please think about us also . Increasing bottom income limit for tax exemption to Rs 275000 will not cost you more than INR 12000 Crores . You are already accommodating burden of aprox. INR 15000 crores because of change in income tax slabs . If you try you can also accommodate Rs 12000 Crores by increasing no tax slab.

Sir Please accommodate loss of direct tax by reducing infrastructure expenditure in Budget to 163000 crore from 173000 crores . I am sure sir if we implement these projects efficiently and without corruption , 163000 crores are enough , You can also reduce budget in other schemes .

Sir a better educated and well feed child is more important to nation than unnecessary SEZes , Flyovers .

Please sir give me my share sir . I will not waste it not at all. And believe me sir Rs 10000 tax relief for me is more important to me than relief of 30000 to double income couples . They can manage without 30000 tax saving but for me 10000 will give much awaited relief .

Times of India people start giving analysis with Income group 3.6 Lakhs and advise them how to invest them . I know you read TOI , The Hindu , Indian Express , ET , etcs , these newspaper just represent higher - middle class , even Media channel won't come in our homes and Kitchens because that is not at all glamorous.

I swear sir the middle class shown in TV channels are fake. We not at all bothered about love affairs around us. we have many others front to think and get tensed.

Print Media and TV channels advertise how can one get 1 crore at the time of retirement. That is for Higher middle class sir. I go to Top-B schools to ask what students will do with saved money nobody comes to my home how will I arrange money for my father's eye operation my son tuition fee.

We are just trying to build 1 BHK or 2 BHK at outer most colony of city , until we got retired. I know I have to work in my old age also for my monthly expenditure. I am not at planning to get retired by 45 and peruse my hobbies . These Dreams are not for me . I have to work till 65-75 for my living hood , and I am ready for that.

But if you full fill my request then I would dream of a little relaxed old age.

Your obediently

-- Ram Prakash Gupta

P.S. : Sir I changed my job in 2008 so I had two Form 16 , In previous company 3000 was deducted as TDS , in another next company they deducted TDS of 9000 . Apart from that I paid 3000 through online payment . Total I paid 15000 Rs as income tax with PAN number quoted every where. But recently I got notice from IT department that instead of 15000 I paid only 9000.

Why IT department could not trace 3000 TDS of previous company and 3000 additional online payment despite quoting the PAN number ..

Sir this is question on efficiency of PAN number system or may be your officers are not educated enough to use the computer systems. You are spending too much on infrastructure but whatever IT infrastructure we have that is used at 50% of efficiency .

Will UID project system meet the same fate??? Will it prove as wastage of my income tax ???

Sir Will UID able to trace 2 crore Bangladeshi intruders in India?? Please , ask Nandan sir to identify Bangladeshi intruders in India .. and send them to Bangladesh .

New Delhi, Mar 11 : The fact that Indians comprise four of the world’s 10 richest people according to Forbes magazine, seems to be reflection of the growing number of millionaires in India.

The country boasts of 5.79 lakh individual millionaires in 2006-07 a sharp contrast to the mere 88,000 individuals earning over Rs 10 lakh in 2002-03.

The figure is almost equal to and in some cases more than the entire population of countries like Luxemburg and Cyprus. Meanwhile, non-corporate assessees with income between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh amounted to 27.87 lakh and while about 273.3 lakh people reported income less than Rs 2 lakh in 2006-07 according to the report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.

As a sign of the India Inc’s growing power, corporate assessees too have risen from 3.65 lakh in 2002-03 to 4 lakh in 2006-07. 68,000 companies have also reported income of more than Rs 10 lakh during 2006-07.

However, the number of companies with income between Rs 50,000 and Rs 10 lakh have shrunk to 1.25 lakh during the period as compared to 1.29 lakh in 2002-03. On the whole non corporate assessees add up to 98.73% while corporates account for a mere 1.27% in 2006-07.

However, the incometax department has some food for thought. The number of taxpayers in the country has risen to 3.13 crore in 2006-07 from 2.85 crore in 2002-03, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.4%. While this is likely to please the taxmen mightily, the growth rate is lower than the 3.24% rise in taxpayers clocked during 2001-02 to 2005-06.

With India’s population at over 110 crore, a majority of which is joining the workforce, the decline in the CAGR of assessees may be a pointer towards higher tax evasion despite the prevailing view that compliance has increased.